'Prometheus', Set Decorator, Sonja Klaus

0:00Sonja KlausAnd I think Ridley and I, when we did, after Gladiator, we then went on and did Kingdom of Heaven. And Ridley would come when I was dressing a set, and I physically like to dress the set. So I don't, I'm not a pointer. I don't…... That. I, because I, to be honest, that, for me, is one of the most, the best bit. It's like a ballet. It's like I'm performing, I'm creating this thing, and it's like a ballet. And Ridley would come w… on, 'cause he was, you know, not doing something, and he would come and help me dress the set. And it was funny because people would watch us, and I'd say, "They're watch… what are they doing watching us?" He's going, "I don't know. Well, it's... I don't know what they're doing." And it was j… you know, and we would occasionally there would be something like, "Did you put that mug there?" Because it would be because we felt the mug wasn't in the right place, and I'd say, "No, I didn't put that there." And he'd move it, and it'd be funny. I'd watch him, and he'd put it exactly where I was gonna put it.

1:09Sonja KlausYou know, having done Kingdom of Heaven, which was a huge scale film, 'cause that was in, you know, that was massive, big battles and things. But Prometheus scale, for me, I mean, I love a bit, I love scale, so I love it. But it was the, it was the scale of the lighting, you know, all the electrics which came under my umbrella. You know, doing all the lighting the sets. Not, you know, the lights the, that Dariusz… Yeah... Did, but the actual lights that you, that light the set, you know, that are built into the design of the set. And that in itself was just a massive... I mean, you can't imagine how many lights there were. And, you know, I think we had three and a half thousand computer screens. And you… Wow... Say that to people and they go, "Oh, what do you mean? 300?" I was like, "Don't be silly. No, there were thousands." Because the thing is about the computer screens is that you know, you, and I was saying this to someone the other day, y… you don't, when you're doing science fiction, you don't wanna take a computer screen in the shape that we know it as now.

2:17Sonja KlausYou're trying to sort of do something a bit different. But at the same time, you've gotta be clever, because you realize that you've got to fit it within something. So, like a console or... But you may not want a big screen. You may want a tiny little bit there, and you may want, like, a long one at the bottom of that, and you may want... So you're actually using one screen sometimes, but you know, we had really clever people that I worked... And they're dividing that s… I mean, it's so clever, and I loved all of that part of it, the technical part of it. Also, you know, things like finding the different materials. You know, you watch that sleep pod scene, and Ridley likes to have so many things done that are real on camera. And when they all wake up, you know, and Michael Fassbender's standing over them and checking them out, you know, w… it was like, well, we know that the screen graphics on there, to a point, are gonna, we wanna put something, but then we're gonna have to enhance it.

3:26Sonja KlausYou know, there'll have to be more information put on digitally later. But w… you know, it was about lighting them up. They've got to light up. They need to be the right color. We need some information to be on there so the actor has got some reaction, and also in his face, you know, 'cause he's wearing that funny, those funny glasses, and you want something on his face to reflect. So finding those materials and, you know, kind of really getting into that, I absolutely loved. I mean, I would have to say of all the jobs I've done, that probably for me was the most exciting thing for me, 'cause it was quite science-y, and I've got quite a science brain. And so…... I loved all of that. And also playing with light and shapes and finishes and, you know, the graphics on that, it was an enormous undertaking of graphics. I mean, there were thou… I mean, there were tons of it. It was everywhere. And, you know, screens everywhere and, you know, like, what's the furniture like?

4:29Sonja KlausWhat, you know, what are the graphics on the doors of the spaceship? You know, what are the graphics like on the side of the rover vehicles? What are the graphics on the screen? What are they looking at? You know, it's kind of endless and, but at the same time, you, it's very exciting. You know, and also, the working out, you kinda don't want it to be naff. You know, when you're doing space, you kind of... There's no, there's no parameters for it, are there? There's no one can say, "Oh, they didn't have that then," which is everyone's favorite line, you know, about anything historical. And it's like, they can't really say that about space, can they? Because there is no... We don't know, do we? Well, I mean, it's in the future, so we don't know. And I think that's the, when you're working on something like that's the interesting part. And then you have the whole sort of contrast between human world and then of course alien world, and that is a completely different thing.

5:34Sonja KlausIt's more organic. It's like, well, what is it? Is it organic? Are they techy? That's why that whole thing when Michael goes and he plays with that console and all that stuff spins around, you know…, ... It's like, well, when I made the console, it, the console was quite jelly-like. That sounds a funny thing, but to touch it was quite jelly. I made it quite jelly-like 'cause I wanted it to be quite organic So it was like made of a material so that when Michael touched it was quite soft, you know?

6:05Sonja KlausAnd you could sort of press down on it. And, you know, we... All of that, all… thinking of those things, like what can you do to help the actor to make it weird, you know? They're like, "Ew, I've never felt anything like this before." Although we know that, we know that the character that Michael's playing is obviously not a human, but at the same time, you know, and he's a genius because he works out how to use it. But it... Everything like what the ampoules, the whole ampoule, you know, the room with the big head in it, and the way the ampoules were stacked. You know, I was talking, when I was doing all the ampoules, you know, you go through endless kind of like what's the finish of that? What is the thing inside it like when they pull it up, you know? What is it like? How do they store that? You know, what, how is it stored? What's it made of? What's the finish? Is it oozing? Is it... You know. So…

7:05Sonja Klaus... Endless conversations about stuff like that, you know. And you can imagine with Ridley, he's a very touchy feely director. And, you know, and like the scale of how many you have to make, how many real ones, how many fake ones, stacking them. You know, I said they should be stacked like bullets and like bottles of wine. You know, that's why they were lying on their sides stacked up at the side, you know, as opposed to upright and then stacked on top of each other. We'd... You know, I tried different ways, but it kind of looked really cool when they were like stacked up like barrels, you know. I think that's because Ridley's got a winery and, you know, he likes things. Reminded him of his winery maybe, I don't know. But, you know, all of that I think can... Is fascinating when you're doing something like that, which, you know, and we had like the rover vehicle. We had quite a lot of tech in a way. If you look at the first Alien, they had tech, but it was like quite... It wasn't basic, but it was a bit different, but at that time, like if you remember in Alien, you know, the one that Ridley did, when they've got the sort of computer and the guy's in the, in the tunnel and he's looking and he, and he's, and they can see the dot, and they're going, "There's something coming."

8:20Sonja KlausAnd he's like looking. He goes, "No. Don't see anything there. No, can't see anything there."

8:24Jawad MirRight.

8:25Sonja Klaus"No, don't think..." And you think how old-fashioned that computer was with the sort of de, diddly, de, you know, and then you think of what we got now. But Ridley, you know, showed that passage of time really well I think in the choices.

8:43Jawad MirYeah. No, I agree with you wholeheartedly because even though there was that difference and it was pretty big, but you s… because the story and the characters are so interesting, people, as an audience member, you kind of like let those things go even if they are slightly off.

9:02Sonja KlausYes.

9:02Jawad MirBut they weren't nevertheless. Because, you know, again, Prometheus is not like Aliens or Alien. It's not like a... Alien was a thriller, horror if you wanna call it. Aliens was like more like a war…

9:15Sonja KlausYes

9:15Jawad Mir... Type movie. I found Alien 3 to be quite similar in terms of tone to Prometheus. Like it, I mean, Alien, I don't know if you've seen Alien 3.

9:26Sonja KlausNo.

9:26Jawad MirWhich I just recently did. I never did because I heard so many bad things about it. It was amazingly shot, but I think the visual effects were just absolutely garbage. Like they were just horrible. But the tone of Prometheus and the science behind it and the question that we all ask all the time, where, what is this all about, right? What happens after life and where are we, where are we originally from? Are there aliens out there? And all those questions. It was very... It wasn't religious, but it was just one of those things that you question stuff and you can s… it taps into your psyche.

10:07Sonja KlausYeah.

10:09Jawad MirBut for me, one of the scenes that I really wanna talk to you about, was the storm scene. You know…

10:17Sonja KlausOh, yes

10:17Jawad Mir... That was a pretty intense scene, and obviously it was done, you know, on sound stage and everything, but nevertheless, to have that kind of power wind coming in, you can't fake that. So talk to me about that.

10:30Sonja KlausSo we did, we did that in different sections so that when they're trying to get back into the ship ... The, there was a section of ship that was built on the back lot at Pinewood. And so all the big wind machines and everything, so it was kind of done... There were a lot of containers. So what they do is, as you know, they stack up loads of shipping containers, and then they put blue…

10:51Jawad MirRight

10:51Sonja Klaus... Screen on front of, on the front of them. So it's like having a sort of stage outside, you know, with... I mean, it's like an interior stage, if you like, without the lid. And so that was all done, and having conversations about what the, what the grit was, you know, what, you know, if, you know, it's, it's things like the aging down of the paint finishes on the ship. You know, you always see these ships, don't you? And they look all shiny, or you'll see them and they look like Bla… you know, like Blade Runner or one of the other ones where the, they're all brown, you know, and they're quite…

11:27Sonja Klaus... Aged down and dripping. And it's kind of like, okay, so what is it like? Because you un… you know, when you travel through space, you get, you know, wear and tear. There are gonna be little things, particles flying against it. A bit like when you get bugs on your car, you know, you're gonna get…

11:43Jawad MirRight

11:43Sonja Klaus... That, aren't you? So, you know, we had quite a lot of conversations about, well, what's that like? And then of course I had to match up with the vehicles, you know, the, with the rover vehicles and with the small sort of four by fours. You know, it's like, well, how worn out are they? Are they brand new? Are they, you know, what are they like? And that scene was... I remember when we did it, you know, there's, 'cause there's many elements to…... You know, making it cool. Like, the amount of output of light that you've got coming from a suit, you know, when they're moving their heads around and, you know, what, how, what is that light like? What color is that light? What is the light like they're holding, you know? And obviously DOPs always want everything to be, you know, po… really powerful. And you know it's very difficult to get a battery to lo… you know, to blast out that amount of light and for it to survive. So you have to devise very clever ways of doing that by hiding battery packs inside costumes and, you know, big battery, you know, doing it.

12:48Sonja KlausAnd it's like, what color is that light? Ri… Ridley loves yellow. You know, he's like a big yellow light-y person. You can see that in a lot of his films, and he loves orange. You know, it's amber. He likes all of that, but he also likes white light. And so when all the sa… you know, when everything's coming, the actor's gotta fight against it, you know? And I think they did it really well because they, you know, they did it... It was shot on the back lot, and they did it at night. And it was pretty grim, and everyone had stuff all up their nose, and everyone was covered up, you know, with kind of... They looked like they were in the desert because that was the only way to sort of deal with it. And also, we did think about doing it inside a containment of a stage, and then Ridley was like, "I'm never gonna get... It's never gonna be big enough. I mean, we have to go on the 007 stage. But, you know, let's do it here." And so a decision was made to build part of it outside. You could drive into it. You had the ramp that went up and, you know, the scene where she gets…

13:43Sonja Klaus... The flamethrower and kind of... You know, you could actually drive into that space and do it. And it's like, well, so what is that space? Well, it's the space where we're gonna put the vehicles, but then we use it again later when you see when she's talking about the mission or before. I think that was before that scene. She's talking about the mission, and they're all sitting there, and she's explaining. And they, the screens come up, and she's explaining, you know, what it's all about. That was that same space…

14:11Sonja Klaus... 'cause Ridley, you know, Ridley loves using spaces more than once. But yet we weren't saying when they were in that space, we weren't saying, "Oh, yeah, you're in the car park." We were trying to say, "You're actually in another part of the spaceship," you know? So there's, there's all those transitional things are happening, and of course it was a, it was like, "Well, can we shoot that night, that scene first? Because when we start getting all the sand, it's gonna go absolutely everywhere, and we're never gonna…

14:38Jawad MirYeah

14:38Sonja Klaus... Get rid of it."

14:42Jawad MirYeah. No, that's, that's, that's incredible. I didn't know that he uses same space, which is actually quite cool because what it does is, obviously you're using less resources, number one, you know, from a budgetary standpoint, but also it pushes people into their creativity side of things where you're trying to come up with new visuals in the same space, and it pushes boundaries I feel.

15:04Sonja KlausIt does, and it does, and also I think, you know, I say to people who ask me about, you know, what it's like, and I said, "Oh, I can redo a room. I could probably redo a corridor maybe five times. I could think of five different ways of using a corridor, and I probably would use it as a corridor once or twice, and the rest of the time it wouldn't be a corridor." And it's just because, I don't know, I just learnt that very early on when I first met Ridley, and I had done it before, you know, on other shows that I'd done. We, you know, you revamp the set. But Ridley is just so the master of it because he also... It's the way you shoot it, isn't it? It's the way you light it. It's what is the story you're telling at that time, you know? What are the actors saying? And I think if you think that what they're saying is enough, you're not gonna start to notice, "Oh, is that wa… Oh, it looks remarkably fam…" You're not gonna notice.

16:06Sonja KlausYou aren't. And I think it's where you position people. It's like how you use that space, you know? Do you shoot that way? Then the other time you shoot that way. Then you shoot that way. Then you can shoot that way. Or you go in a corner and shoot out that way. And, you know, he is just so good at that, and I do agree with you. It is, I think it's a really important skill, and especially, you know, these days budgets are so tight. And you just think you need to know that and do that and be able to revamp something and not go, "Oh, well, we'll have to go to another place." It's like, actually you don't. Actually, you don't. You know, and I, and you know, he did it a lot. He did it on... I mean, I can pick out 'cause I just know, you know, having worked with him so many times I can pick out and go, "Yeah, I, you've shot in that room already." But that's only 'cause I know, 'cause I kind of know what's gonna happen. I know the process. I know which way he's gonna turn. I know is he gonna flip it that way or that way?

17:06Jawad MirThat is so cool. You know, it's just, it's so interesting the timing of this conversation that you mention this because one of... And I talked to you about this earlier, one of the projects that we're sort of, I'm, I'm kind of moving forward with, you know, with the money coming in, it's a short and everything. And I was talking to my DP, and I was talking to my, location manager that I wanna film this, you know, one... It has like three, four locations. And I wanna do it in Europe and somewhere in Northern Africa like Morocco. And it's, it's contained rooms. It's contained settings because I do wanna have that depth of the locations of the time periods and everything. But now that after talking to you know, maybe I need to reconsider some of it, not all of it. We'll see. But it's, it's interesting you mention that because that does push boundaries of creativity for sure.

18:00Sonja KlausYeah, and I mean, we are in the creative business. And, you know, and I for one, I mean, I know I kind of wanna get, you know, if I go to a location, you know, or if it's a set build, you know, you've s… Either way you look at it, you've spent money, haven't you? You know, you've, you've spent money. So y… you kind of... You've gotta utilize what you've got, and you've gotta try and utilize it as much as you can, you know, because it helps with many things, you know. You know yourself, going on location, you don't wanna keep moving locations, 'cause you've gotta move the units, you gotta... You know, so I try to, wherever I can, I'm going to see a location on this film I'm on at the moment, on Tuesday, and I've explained to the director and I said, "You can, you'll be able to get three different sets out of this." And I say that with confidence, 'cause I know the location. And I may be wrong, and he may walk in and go, "Oh, I don't like any of it," but I don't think I am.

19:02Sonja KlausSo, you know, and that's what you do, don't you? You need to do that. And I think Ridley does that too, you know. He can do that with a location, and he, and a set, you know. And I think that's a good, it's a good skill to learn. It's definitely a good skill to learn.

19:18Jawad MirRight. No, that's, that's great. Thank you so much for sharing that. You know, you've, you talked about, we talked about working with Ridley on your earlier part of career on Gladiator, which by the way, Gladiator II is coming out next month, and the new trailer looks great. I don't know if you saw it. But…

19:33Sonja KlausYeah. I'm seeing it on Sunday.

19:35Jawad MirOh, you're watching the film on Sunday?

19:37Sonja KlausYeah, and I'm going to the premiere.

19:39Jawad MirMan, I don't like you.

19:43Sonja KlausAnd the party maybe.

19:45Jawad MirOh, I don't care about the party. Those things are just

19:48Sonja KlausNo. But you'll, it'll come to you, won't it? It's gonna come, isn't it?

19:50Jawad MirYeah.

19:51Sonja KlausThe 20…

19:51Jawad MirYeah.

19:51Sonja KlausIs it the 20th? I…

19:52Jawad Mir22nd.

19:53Sonja KlausYeah.

19:53Jawad MirNovember 22nd.

19:55Sonja KlausYeah.

19:55Jawad MirYeah, no, I, the, I might be able to go to, like, a press screening in, like, mid-November or maybe a couple of days after that.

20:00Sonja KlausI think they're doing quite a lot of them, because they've started doing loads in London, and if they're doing them in London, they'll do them in Paris, in Tokyo, you know, they'll be doing the rounds.

20:11Jawad MirYeah. No, it's, it's... I think the fact that they're doing all these, it means the film is good. And normally sometimes they…

20:18Sonja KlausIt means the studio is behind it big style.

20:21Jawad MirYeah. Yeah. And they believe in it, but we'll see what happens. But having said... You know, going back to your earlier part of your career, Gladiator, which was, when you started working on it was probably '98, '97, you know, in the pre-production stage.

20:34Sonja KlausYes, it was.

20:34Jawad MirAnd then, and then Prometheus, you know, what, over a decade or so later. That transition, obviously you worked with Ridley in between a few times. You talked about Kingdom of Heaven. But s… just skipping all that in between, from that time working on Gladiator as a newbie, for the lack of a better word, and to someone who is very well-versed in, you know, what you're doing, and working with Ridley, what was that s… relationship like in terms of over the years that has developed?

21:04Sonja KlausPeople, I get asked that by people, and I kind of have, like, sometimes I have this sort of stock response, which is, you know, "Oh, you know, well, you know, it, we, I show him everything and we, you know, we talk, endlessly about everything." I don't show him everything. And we do talk a lot, but we don't always talk about the show. You... I think it's called trust, and Ridley trusts me, and we... It was like an unspoken language really the two of us have, and we still have it. I can still do that. You know, even if I had to go and start tomorrow, it would just be like, it would just go back to h… how it's always been. 'Cause it's like that, you know, when he, when he comes onto shows that I've done through Scott Free, you know, Ridley'll come on the set and it'll be just like... It, there's no, there's no disparity at all in our relationship, you know?

22:06Sonja KlausWe don't, we just carry on. And I think Ridley and I, when we did, after Gladiator, we then went on and did Kingdom of Heaven, and Ridley would come when I was dressing a set, and I physically like to dress the sets. I don't, I'm not a pointer. I don't do that.

22:26Sonja KlausI, because I... To be honest, that for me is one of the most, the best bit. It's like a ballet. It's like I'm performing, I'm creating this thing and it's like a ballet. And Ridley would come wi… on, 'cause he was, you know, not doing something, and he would come and help me dress the set. And it was funny, 'cause people would watch us, and I'd say, "They're, what? What are they doing watching us?" And he's going, "I don't know. Well, it's, I don't know what they're doing." And it was j… You know, and we would occasionally there would be something like, "Did you put that mug there?" Because it would be because we felt the mug wasn't in the right place, and I'd say, "No, I didn't put that there." And he'd move it. And it'd be funny, I'd watch him, and he'd put it exactly where I was gonna put it.

23:10Jawad MirWow.

23:10Sonja KlausAnd when you have that kind of rapport with somebody,.. I have a, someone I work with as well, and I have that with him. I can do that with him. I can't do that with everyone, but I did that with, a lot with Ridley. And also, our taste is very similar, and I've picked up on things that I know he likes. You just do. Y… you know, it's a bit... You know, you start to understand that person a lot, and you start to watch what they're doing. And I paid a lot of attention to what he was doing and how he was doing it, and I kind of... You know, and I always joked to him and I'd go, "I had the best teacher." 'Cause I did, I had the best teacher. And, I don't know, it was... I don't know, I just sort of did the sets, you know, and Ridley would come and shoot it, you know? And, we'd talk about it, you know. He'd say, "Oh, we know, what... Do you think we should do this?

24:10Sonja KlausDo you think we should do that?" And we'd kind of talk about it. A lot of drawing. When you communicate with him, I think I told you before, it's a, it's a drawing thing…

24:18Jawad MirYeah

24:18Sonja Klaus... That happens. So you sit and you kind of draw… You know, instead of speaking, you're sort of, you're drawing. And I don't know, even now, I mean, I don't, I don't, I can just, I just know…

24:30Jawad MirI get it. It's, it's shorthand.

24:32Sonja KlausI just know what he's gonna do.

24:33Jawad MirIt's muscle memory. Yeah.

24:33Sonja KlausAnd I just know, I just know what he wants, and I can just, I just do it. And, you know, maybe, I mean, I, you know, I think it's difficult for other people because maybe they don't have that. But I think I… it just was a th… you know, just with him, I had, I have this thing.

24:52Jawad MirAnd I completely understand that because there is some, there are some people that you have a shorthand with, and there's muscle memory and all that. I'll, I'll tell you a story. I was, I was recommended by somebody, I was looking for a composer. And I met this guy over Zoom. We didn't talk about anything related to the project, just life. That's it. And then we had lunch, and then I showed him some proof of concept, and then we talked about, like, we didn't talk about money. We didn't talk about contracts. We shook our hand, and that was it. And he's still on board the project. I just met him again. And it's just sometimes things just click.

25:35Sonja KlausIt just aligns you…

25:37Jawad MirAnd that…

25:37Sonja KlausIt does, and it just clicks, and it, you know, and I, you know, I get asked by people, and, you know, I think they want me to say, "Oh, you know, I show him loads of mood boards, and I..."

25:47Jawad MirOh, no. Yeah.

25:47Sonja KlausI mean, maybe that's what they want me to say because that's how they, that's what happens for them. But I, it wasn't, it's never been like that with me with him. I've always kinda done my own thing really. And I've just gone away and done it. And I've shown him, like, you know, an action... I mean, I've literally gone, "That's the action prop."

26:12Jawad MirFor sure.

26:13Sonja KlausYou know? And, you know, I haven't done that, "Oh, there's five things here, and you can, and pick one." Because I just know I could put five things, I could do that for you. I just know he's gonna go for number one 'cause I just know that's the one he's gonna go for.

26:25Jawad MirYeah.

26:26Sonja KlausSo there's no point getting the other four because that's a waste of someone's time 'cause I just know he's gonna go for number one. You know, and I think, you know, when we weren't, when I wasn't with him, you know, doing sort of some of the shows that he did, 'cause he had a different group of people that he was with, for whatever…

26:44Sonja Klaus... Reason, you know, I was busy or, you know, just that's the way it worked out. You know, I, people used to say to me, "He misses you." And I'd be like, "Well, yeah, that's 'cause he doesn't have to explain." He doesn't have to go to a long-winded thing 'cause I just go and do it. You know, I like I, you know, I know, like, when he wants a cup of coffee. You know, I know, you know, I don't know. I, we can go, you can give me a menu and I can, I could probably pick on there what I think he might choose, you know, because I've, I've, I've been and had enough meals with him, you know. There are other things about him I don't know, just like there's things about me that he doesn't know. You know, I don't know everything about him.

27:30Jawad MirOf course. Of course.

27:30Sonja KlausBut I'd say with regards to work, I think with regards to work, I completely and utterly understand his work. You know, I'm like the muse. I'm, I'm the one, you know, I understand the work. I understand the process. And I don't have that, I'll be honest, that's one thing. I don't, I've never, I don't think I ever w… I might, but I don't think so. I don't know that I'll ever have that with someone else, another director. I don't know that I will. I kind of have it with one, with Anders. We only did, he only did Taboo with me, but I kind of have it with him. I do feel like that with him. I f… I feel we had something. You know, and I have it with certain actors. I know I have, like, I just know them, and I kind of n… n… I kinda know what to give. And to, and, you know, DOP, like, and costume, you know, I have it with Joanna Eatwell. She's a costume designer. And I don't actually have to, I don't even need to have a chat with her about anything.

28:29Jawad MirOh, that's so cool.

28:30Sonja KlausI mean, literally don't have to because I just know that Joanna's gonna, she's just gonna, she just gets it. She's gonna do it. She kn… she knows. And I trust her 100%.

28:42Jawad MirBut I think partially, you're right about the trust factor, obviously, pr… from a professional standpoint, but I think one of the reasons these kinda things work with certain people is because if you get to know people outside of work…

28:55Sonja KlausYes

28:55Jawad Mir... You know, not into their personal details, but just about who they are…

28:59Sonja KlausYes

28:59Jawad Mir... And you and I talked about this last time, like making it about the other person, p… it automatically generates this thing…

29:07Sonja KlausHuge

29:07Jawad Mir... In the back. Yeah.

29:08Sonja KlausYeah.

29:08Jawad MirIt works.

29:09Sonja KlausYes. I mean, you know that when you meet someone, you know, to do your job, you know, like you just said. You know, it's a, I don't know. I can't explain it. I, you know, I c… I mean, I think it, I... Not everyone has it, by the way, just…

29:24Jawad MirYeah

29:24Sonja Klaus... You know, not everyone has that. Some people struggle, and they don't ever get it. And, you know, and I don't get it with everyone, like I said. I, you know, and I know that. But it's kinda weird 'cause it's like, it's a bit like Gillian, my painter. I... And James Gamell, who I use. They're both painters. I don't... I'll be honest, I l… literally can wave my arm around and go, "Just, can you..." I'll go like that, and it just happens, you know?

29:56Sonja KlausAnd it's because they've paid attention to me, and they've embraced what Sonia, you know, what is gonna come out, what Sonia's gonna do and what she's thinking. And we've been around each other for so long that it would be a bit sad... I mean, I've known Gillian since she was 20, you know? And it would be a bit sad if she didn't know, you know, me by now, wouldn't it? 'Cause we've, you know, we've, we've been doing jobs together for 30 years, and it's like, if she doesn't know me now, well, I'm screwed, aren't I? She doesn't know me now. And same, you know, and I've had that with other people, but you don't have it with... You don't get it with everyone.

30:38Jawad MirYeah. No, I agree.

30:38Sonja KlausAnd Prometheus was that, you know, for me, because I, you know, I was very heavy-handed on Prometheus, my input was quite big. And you can s… you know, if you... And also, you know, Kingdom of Heaven, my input was quite big, and this, a lot of the shows I've done with Ridley, and you can see if you know my work…

31:03Jawad MirYeah

31:03Sonja Klaus... And you see, you can... People always say that. They say, "When you didn't work for Rid… you know, when you didn't do the big films anymore, can see a change. It's different." And I'm, I don't know whether I take that as flattering comment. I don't really know. I would never say that to Ridley, of course. But you know, I think there is. You can see there's a little change. There's a little change. It's a little different. It's still amazing, but it's a little different.

31:35Jawad MirThat's so cool. I'm so glad to hear that. Th… this is wonderful. I love it. And, a… and you know, a lot of times, directors and, you know, the entire film crew comes together for a film, the cast and crew, and they work, and then they go their own ways. Very few times, you know, you have some people that stay in touch and, but sometimes certain things, like I can see that with you and Ridley, is that there's this special kind of camaraderie. I mean, even though, yeah, you haven't worked on all the films that he's done, or he hasn't worked with you all the films that you have done, but it's still there. That's called professionalism, and there is that personal element, and you adapt. And with Prometheus, going back to that, when the film came out, it wasn't... I don't think it was received well as it should've been. Like I said earlier, I probably wasn't, was one of them. It didn't really do well at the box office as it should've been. But because Alien has such a big fan base, right? It's like one of those films like Star Wars…

32:35Sonja KlausYeah

32:35Jawad Mir... Or Indiana Jones.

32:36Sonja KlausYeah.

32:36Jawad MirDo you, do you remember, like did you have any kind of pressure, you know, because not that you should care, but sometimes people get like, "Oh, you didn't do this right," or there's that historical element that's wrong even though it's in future. Did you have to deal with any of that preconceived notion, that should I be…

32:57Sonja KlausI mean, I think that there was always going to be, you know, there'd always be the s… the skeptics, you know?

33:02Jawad MirYeah.

33:04Sonja KlausAnd there was always gonna be, you know, there are some journalists who just wanna have a go 'cause they can, you know? So you know that's, you know that's gonna come regardless. Can have a great cast, you know, whatever, you know…

33:19Jawad MirOh

33:19Sonja Klaus... It can look great, all that, but doesn't... If they just decide they wanna be horrible about it, they're gonna be horrible about it. You know, w… we had lots of conversations, Ridley and I, about the tech. You know, as I was saying earlier, we talked about the tech. And there are certain things that you have said that the Ridley fan base, you know, are gonna want, like the pods that everyone sleeps in.

33:42Sonja KlausYou know, 'cause that was in the first Alien. So but what do they do? You know, are they gonna be like the ones, is the shape of them the way they're in the room gonna be similar to the way they were in the room of the other one? No, but they're gonna lie down. They're not gonna be upright. You know, they're gonna lie down. So how does the lid come off? Does it slide? We had the lid, it slid into the wall at the back, which was different to the Alien that Ridley did, 'cause his lids went up like that. So we did simple things like that to change them, to make them more up to date and to show that we weren't exactly copying the first one. Also, we…

34:20Jawad MirYeah

34:20Sonja Klaus... Endlessly about the computers. So in the first one, as I told you had the blinkety blink, you know, and he was like, "Oh, you know, they're gonna... You know, I know, I know." You know, we went to the, Imperial War Muse… Imperial College, and we had this whole thing about nanotechnology and smart dust and, you know, that eventually, you know, we're not gonna have these com… we're not gonna have all this metal and, you know, it just, we won't have that. You know, we'll have some implant in the side of our mouth, and we can just go, "Hello," you know, or just say the person's name or, you know, or something will be in our glasses and we'll just be able to have a heads-up display and, you know, whatever. And so we talked about all that, and I said, "Well, in reality, you know, if there was the ability to travel through time and space in the future, then we won't need a spaceship, 'cause you'll just be going... You'll just say, 'Take...' You'll just go, 'Mars,' and then you'll be teleported to Mars." You know, so…

35:18Jawad MirStar Trek.

35:19Sonja KlausYeah, well, we had all those... We went through all that, you know, and then we, you know, and then I went and I had this whole thing about nanotechnology and smart dust and all that stuff. And we talked about the computers, and he... And I said, and Ridley and I literally got boxes out, like cereal boxes and bits of cardboards, and I cut it out one day and got some tape, and I made a console up out of bits of cardboard. And I put, like, colored paper for the screens, you know. And I said, I said, "Look," I said, "I think why, sh… let's do it like this. Why don't we do one of these?" And I said, "We'll have some screens, and we'll have some buttons," 'cause actors need something, don't they?

35:59Sonja KlausThey need to touch something, and they want a joystick, and they want a ball, and they want... You know, they wanna... 'Cause otherwise they're gonna sit there, aren't they, like that? "Oh, well, I'll just sit in my chair then." And…

36:10Jawad MirRight

36:10Sonja Klaus... Sometimes you have to think about that. So in a way you're going, "Okay, well, I'm not being uber techy here. I've got screens," and they probably wouldn't have that screen, that many screens. They won't have key… you know, they won't have buttons to press. They'll just, it'll all be whatever. And so, you know… You, y… you know, we were, I was kind of waiting for the sort of scathing comments, you know, like, "Oh, well, you know, surely we've moved on from screens by now," you know? But weirdly, I didn't get any. No one said anything about it at all. So I had this whole anxiety beforehand about, "Oh, you know, maybe I'm not being techy enough." And then I got n… nothing.

36:53Jawad MirThat's amazing.

36:53Sonja KlausAnd then people writing, going, "Oh, the screen graphics were really cool, and, you know, the heads-up display that you did was really cool, and, you know, and all the 3D animated things were really cool." And I was like, "Oh, okay."

37:08Jawad MirThat's, that's, that's so cool. You know, I'll share a little interesting story with you about Alien. I was talking to John Stevenson. He's, he di…

37:15Sonja KlausOh, yeah, John, yeah

37:16Jawad Mir... He directed Kung Fu Panda and

37:20Sonja KlausI've met him

37:20Jawad Mir... A few other pro... And he, in his early part of his career, he worked on, with Jim Henson on Labyrinth and Dark Crystal.

37:29Sonja KlausYes.

37:29Jawad MirSo he was telling me that how, Ridley and Spielberg approached Jim at the time for the Alien first film and Close Encounters of Third Kind, the Alien and Close Encounters of Third Kind, from a, from Jim Henson's, you know, talent and skillset…

37:48Sonja KlausYes

37:48Jawad Mir... Point of view, and Jim turned them down, and because he thought it was not going to... He didn't wanna go in that direction of, from his business model and everything. And I thought that was kinda cool. I mean, had that happened, imagine…

38:03Sonja KlausWell, that would be interesting.

38:05Jawad MirRight?

38:06Sonja KlausYes.

38:08Jawad MirI mean, that, we would be living, we would be talking about a completely different Alien film right now because everything would've, trajectory would've…

38:16Sonja KlausIt…

38:16Jawad Mir... Changed because…

38:17Sonja KlausIt would have

38:17Jawad Mir... I just thought it was a fun fact. I mean, I didn't know about this. He told me. It was like, I was like, "Wow, that is amazing."

38:23Sonja KlausI…

38:23Jawad MirThat is so cool

38:24Sonja Klaus... I remember asking Ridley about the, you know, about the alien that goes flying, comes out the stomach in Alien and goes flying, you know, in the canteen, the mess room, goes flying off the set.

38:36Jawad MirYeah.

38:36Sonja KlausScreaming off the set. And I said, I said... And if you look at it now, it's quite funny 'cause it, you can see that it's on a stick or it's on, you know, you kind of imagine it's on like someone's just pulled it.

38:51Jawad MirRight.

38:51Sonja KlausAnd I said, I said, "So..." And he said, "Oh, I had to get, we had to cut the set out and get, you know, John to stick his head." And then he said, "I went to the supermarket at lunch break." This is Ridley. He went to the supermarket, and he bought, like, sandwich spread, and he bought, like, tins of weird chopped kind of vegetables, and he bought some mayonnaise, and he bought, like, salad cream. And he made all that vomit up.

39:19Jawad MirOf course.

39:20Sonja KlausBecause that's what it was like then. They didn't have, like, "Oh, hi."

39:23Jawad MirYeah.

39:23Sonja Klaus"Can I dial 1-800-VOMIT, please?" 'Cause they didn't, they didn't have all the domestic science people or... You know, and that was a puppet. That thing was a puppet, and it was literally on a bit of string, like an elastic band, and they pulled it.

39:38Jawad MirYeah. But you know that scene, i… despite its lack of technical aspect because it was 1979, I was watching a photo, on, somewhere on social media. It was, it was a bunch of photos somebody took at one of the earlier screenings, of Alien, the audience reaction when it comes out of the stomach. And to see that at that time, because nothing had ever come out like that…

40:03Sonja KlausNo

40:03Jawad Mir... Ever, I mean, it was, you could see on their faces, like, they'd just saw a ghost. It was just…

40:09Sonja KlausYes

40:09Jawad Mir... Crazy.

40:10Sonja KlausWell, I remember when I saw it. I was like, "Ah." I mean, it was just like, 'cause I'd never seen... W… we, when would... We didn't.

40:18Jawad MirNo, it was never done before. It was never done before.

40:20Sonja KlausNo, and that's why, you know, when we were doing, you know, the, 'cause you have those, you know, there's that as well. 'Cause remember, you know, space has been done now, hasn't it?

40:30Jawad MirYeah.

40:31Sonja KlausLet's be honest. So…

40:32Jawad MirToo many times

40:33Sonja Klaus... Too many times, but I like to think that I was working for one of the pioneers. So, you know, we would think about, "Well, what could we do? What have we got that we can do that no one else is gonna do?" And…

40:47Jawad MirYeah

40:47Sonja Klaus... So we'd try and think of things, you know. We'd like, "Oh, let, you know, has someone done that? No, I don't... Oh, yeah, I think they did." And it was actually quite difficult to do it because there have been a lot of space movies, and Ridley kept saying to me, going, "You know that there've been a lot of space movies, 'cause, you know, I did, like, the best, I did, like, one of the first space movies." Like, and so…

41:07Jawad MirYeah

41:07Sonja Klaus... I was like, "I know. Yeah, you did. Yeah. You were actually the pioneer of space." You know, he, 'cause he was one of the first ones. You know, when he did Blade Runner, think about it. What else was there? What, was there…

41:19Jawad MirWell, before that, I mean, there was Star Wars…

41:21Sonja KlausThere was…

41:21Jawad Mir... But it was different, and there was 2001: A Space Odyssey.

41:23Sonja KlausYeah, but it was completely…

41:24Jawad MirYeah.

41:24Sonja KlausYeah, but they were, they were, they weren't that grungy, you know?

41:27Jawad MirYeah.

41:28Sonja KlausCompletely different.

41:29Jawad MirYeah.

41:30Sonja KlausAnd also, the tech in them wasn't the same. You know, it was just…

41:35Jawad MirBig difference

41:36Sonja Klaus... Very different, and the sort of feeling of them and, you know, and I think, you know, we wanted, like, the opening scene of Prometheus, you know, when you get the sort of, the jockeys, you know, and they're, they're, they're aliens, and they're there. It was that, the whole thing about, well, what they wearing. Are they wearing cl… you know, what are they? And, you know, what is the black liquid, you know? And what the container, 'cause it, you know, I did, that container was, made from metal, and it was all poured metal, and the top design on it was, on the lid. You know, I went through lots of di… varying ideas of how, what that was, and did it have to be their language? I kind of invented an entire alien language, because I wasn't sure if we wouldn't need it. So I looked at cuneiform, and I looked at really early forms of speech patterns, and then I kinda came up with our own.

42:37Sonja KlausI created an entire written language. You know, if you saw it written, what would it look like?

42:43Jawad MirYeah, on the walls.

42:46Sonja KlausSo on the lid of the, container it's, it kind of looks a bit, it looks a bit like a sort of 1950s or '60s sculpture really is how I'd describe it to you. 'Cause I, what I wanted to do was I took the words and created a pattern using the language that I had, you know, the alphabet I created, the language, the tones I'd created. A bit like Chinese, you know how it's written, it's in tones and... And then I s… I said it needs to sort of almost look like it's melted or like it's like, sort of, you know, gone into the container. It's worn and it's, it's come, it's kind of gone like that. Like those speakers, you know, when you put, you know you put mag… magnet… magnets, you know…

43:31Jawad MirYeah

43:31Sonja Klaus... Magnet powder on a speaker, and you know how it goes all weird and it kinda makes weird shapes. I don't know if you've ever… ... Seen that, ever Googled it. So it was, I looked at all that kind of stuff just to make that container. You know, I went through this whole…

43:44Jawad MirWow

43:46Sonja Klaus... 'cause you do, don't you? You're like, because I'm a, because the science brain, I have to go back. I've always gotta go back and go, "Why? What, how was it formed?" You know, what, they didn't go to a shop and go, "I need a bowl to put some of my sort of weird black goo in," did they? They would've…

44:03Jawad MirYeah

44:03Sonja Klaus... That would've been created by s… by one of them, you know. However they did it, you know, 3D printing maybe. But, you know, which we think's so cool. Now not. And, you know, what was it? So e… everything has to have for me, has always have to have a kind of backstory. I need to know the why. And I know I need, and I know it's just a film. I'm, I know that. I know it's just a film, but that's what, why I try to make my job a bit more interesting, because I wanna learn something. A… and it's not just... And I have. I've learned a lot that's absolutely nothing to do with the film, and no one could give monkeys about some, you know, whatever it is. But it's made that more interesting for me, and hopefully for the people who work with me, you know, doing the w… you know, re… the research or the why and touching things and going, "Oh, that's weird.

45:04Sonja KlausNever seen that before." And I think that's what I really like, 'cause Ridley loves all that. You know, he loves all that. And I think that's why I'm saying to you, I said to you earlier, I just don't know that I'll ever have that. I don't know if I ever will, 'cause I feel people are a bit, you know, directors now and pe… you know, younger people, they're different. You know, they're just different because they grew up with smartphones and laptops and the internet, and they're just different. You know, if you told someone, "Oh, I made a prop out of, you know, cereal boxes and bits of cardboard I pulled out of the bins, you know, at Pinewood and stuck it with bits of gaff tape," they'd be like, "Oh, what? Couldn't you just, you could just model that up on a computer." And I'm like, "Not really. No."

45:49Jawad MirNo. It's, you know, it's funny you mention that because in the next 20 years or 30 years what you and I are talking about will be…

45:59Sonja KlausIt'll be gone

45:59Jawad Mir... Kind of, it'll be gone, right?

46:01Sonja KlausOh, yeah. It'll be gone. It'll be gone.

46:01Jawad MirIt'll be gone because all the kids especially who are born into the smartphone technology like…

46:05Sonja KlausNo, they're not gonna, it's not gonna be there

46:07Jawad Mir... It's not gonna be there. But I, you know, i… it's, it's, i… it's so, I talk about this all the time. I may have done this with you too, so forgive me if I'm repeating it. It is so refreshing, excuse me, when I see practical stuff. It is so refreshing. Like, I just, I remember when I was in my 20s, I mean, the visual effects, like, you know, when, late '90s, early 2000, even Gladiator used it and everything. Like, it was like, "Wow, that's so cool." But after I think 2012, 2013, I became appreciating, and that's probably because that's when I made my first film. I'm guessing it has something to do with that. I just don't care for visual effects that are just visual effects. If they're a combination of practical effects and visual effects…

46:57Sonja KlausYeah

46:57Jawad Mir... And they're seamless, great. I'm all for it. But just to kinda do that, you know, and you can tell.

47:04Sonja KlausIt's gone.

47:04Jawad MirIt's, you can tell…

47:06Sonja KlausYes

47:06Jawad Mir... So obviously. It's like, and I don't feel anything. Like, you know, we…

47:09Sonja KlausNo

47:09Jawad Mir... I don't know if you've seen this series, it's kind of, it's about Rome. It's

47:14Sonja KlausOh, yeah, I did, the one that was done by

47:17Jawad MirRonald Emmerich. And…

47:18Sonja KlausRonald Emmerich. Yeah

47:19Jawad Mir... Yeah. Emmerich. I mean, s… have you seen the entire series?

47:24Sonja KlausI'm afraid I haven't watched all of it.

47:26Jawad MirWell, that's fine. I mean, if you, if you see a couple of episodes, it's a…

47:29Sonja KlausI've watched two episodes

47:30Jawad Mir... It's, it's a, it's a decent series, but you can tell, like, when they're doing chariot races, and you can tell, like, how, like, you know, the background is blurred out and it looks like you're watching something from the '60. I… it just, I didn't connect. I just did not connect.

47:45Sonja KlausI…

47:46Jawad MirIt was okay

47:46Sonja Klaus... I didn't connect with it, and that's why I couldn't watch any more of it.

47:52Jawad MirYeah, no, it's, it's…

47:53Sonja Klaus'cause it just, it just…

47:53Jawad Mir... Nothing worth watching

47:54Sonja Klaus... It lost, it, you lose me when you do that. I get, I'm, I'm gone. I'm, I'm, I'm not interested. I mean, what was that film last year that got, The Creation. Creation? That was in all, in the Oscars, you know, that went up for visual effects. It won best vis…

48:10Jawad MirOh, right. The Creator. The Creator

48:11Sonja Klaus... The Creator. So, you know, they built some sets on that, and then you look up at the CG, and you're like, look down at the set, and you're like, "Well, that was obviously done by one person. That was done by a whole bunch of other people. Are you trying to tell me that's meant to be the same as that? 'Cause it doesn't look anything like it." You know?

48:28Sonja KlausAnd the minute that happens for me, y… I'm, I'm, that's it. I've, I'm gone.

48:33Jawad MirYou're zoned out.

48:34Sonja KlausI'm gone because I just, I'm like, I'm just watching a bunch of computer nerds who've sat there and they've said, been asked to do some designing and do some creations and do some... Or someone creating an entire stunt on a computer. I'm like… Right.

48:51Jawad MirYeah. I mean, that's why Tom… Tom Cruise people films, he's up…

48:54Sonja KlausOh, he's a... They say he's a nutter, but I'm like, he does do, he does jump out…

48:58Jawad MirYeah

48:59Sonja Klaus... Of a plane.

49:00Jawad MirI mean, it… that's what, that's... Whether people know it or not, that's what, that's how they connect to his character. I mean, yes, these are not deep stories or anything.

49:07Sonja KlausThat's... But they don't real… Isn't it weird 'cause they... It's almost like it's subliminal. They don't realize why they're connecting with it. And I'm like, "You're connecting with it 'cause he actually did it."

49:18Jawad MirYeah.

49:18Sonja KlausAnd so you're actually, your brain is going, "Holy moly." And I said, "Whereas if that was done CG, you'd be like, 'Oh, yeah. Oh, it's quite cool.'"

49:27Jawad MirYeah.

49:28Sonja KlausBecause there's no, there's no shock horror, is there, about the fact that like, "Oh my God, he could actually die"? Because if it's fake, you just kn… And also, when it's fake, I just know it's fake, and so I've lost, I've completely... I'm like, "Ugh."

49:42Jawad MirYeah. No, I agree.

49:43Sonja KlausI can't watch any more of this.

49:45Jawad MirI agree. I will, I will wrap this up with just one little question. You've, you sort of talked about this a few times, that you are into science and all that. And, you know, especially b… the theme of this film, Prometheus, where did we come from? Where are we headed? Or just in some, in terms of alien life out there, wh… where do you stand on that? What do you, what do you believe?

50:10Sonja KlausWell, it's very interesting you should ask me that question, because I remember going, when we went to Imperial College, and I had done Babylon I… AD, was science fiction, but it wasn't the same sort of thing. You know, it was different.

50:29Sonja KlausAnd I hadn't really done sort of spaceships. You know, it was, Prometheus was my first spaceships really. And when we went to Imperial College and you meet these scientists who are sitting there talking, you literally get brain ache after about half an hour, 'cause they all start getting excited 'cause they're together in a room. There's about four of them in a room with you, y… you know, and they're suddenly talking, and they are talking about stuff that you literally cannot possibly equate. You cannot.

51:04Sonja KlausBecause their brains have developed in such a rate because of what they do, and they're talking about the future, and they are talking about the future in 30, 40 years. That's what they're doing. They're not talking about what you and I talk about now. They're, they're, they've already gone past, like, a shit ton of stuff.

51:30Jawad MirRight.

51:30Sonja KlausAnd so you're sitting there and you're thinking about space. You know, and I remember, and I don't know if you remember this, the only way I can sort of quickly say it to you is maybe as a child, do you remember, I don't know when you first kind of tried to understand what happened when you looked up? I don't know if you ever remember when it was like the stars and then someone saying, "Oh, there's other planets out there," and you couldn't quite, like, get it. You were like, ""

51:55Sonja KlausAnd then I remember learning about God, and they said, "Oh, you know, God is everywhere." So I had this image that we were like this plat… this ball, 'cause I'd seen pictures of the earth by then, and stars, and man had gone to the moon, and I kind of thought that we were in a box. I sound so stupid now. And that God was, like, looking down, l… He had us in a box, all of us, and He was looking at us. And He was like a big man, but we were like this little, like the size of a golf ball, Earth was, and He was kind of looking at us all. And I imagine that there, like, there was an end, like ends, you know? Like the end of our s…

52:33Jawad MirYeah

52:34Sonja Klaus... You know. And then I went to see Professor Stephen Hawking talking about space, and he said, "It is not possible for the human brain to understand infinity. It's just not. But if you were an alien, you'd understand it completely." And he said, "If there's one thing I can leave you with, it's that don't look down at your feet. Look up to the sky, 'cause that's the future."

53:03Sonja KlausAnd when he said that, I went with my niece, it was a while ago, about eight, 10 years ago, and I just remember coming away feeling kind of satisfied and fine about everything. And I just thought, there's someone sitting there who's telling us that the future is up there, that it's up there, and I truly believe that. I believe that man, not in my lifetime maybe, but I do believe that we're gonna find that there are other earths and that there are other people. I do believe in the, in the law of probability tells me that it isn't possible for there to just be one of us. It's just that we don't have the technology yet to get that far, because we can't understand infinity. And we send all these probes out and everything, but we don't send probes out for 25 years, do we? 'Cause that's how long it would take, or 30 years…

53:59Sonja Klaus... 'cause we all know how long space travel is different.

54:02Jawad MirRight.

54:03Sonja KlausAnd I think that's, for me, I totally believe. I don't think they've necessarily come to the planet. I'm not sure I believe that bit. You know, I don't believe UFOs have landed. I'm not quite sure, 'cause I just think, maybe. Maybe not.

54:18Jawad MirYeah.

54:19Sonja KlausI don't know about that. But I do definitely believe that there are other pe… there is another place or places.

54:27Jawad MirYeah. It's interesting you mention about that, the box and somebody overlooking, because that's exactly how I perceived it growing up…

54:36Sonja KlausI was gonna say…

54:37Jawad Mir... Until I... And I don't know where that comes from. Like, if that's maybe…

54:40Sonja KlausI don't know, but it's just what I imagined it.

54:42Jawad MirBut then I remember taking grade nine astron… science class, or grade 10, and I was fascinated with astronomy, and I wanted to be an astronomer before I decided to be a film director. And… I remember I started looking at stars in a different way, and now then you see all these, you know, there's so many, there was so much content online. Like, you see, you know, y… how is one universe, and there's God knows how many universe in one galaxies, and there's trillions of galaxies. And i… it gets just like an infinite thing, right? And then there's a quote from that movie Contact that Robert Zemeckis di… directed from Carl Sagan's book, "If it's just us, seems like an awful lots of waste of space." Right?

55:24Sonja KlausJust…

55:24Jawad MirAnd that…

55:25Sonja KlausYeah, that, and that's the line, isn't it? That's it.

55:29Jawad MirYeah.

55:29Sonja KlausYeah. And I would never have felt... I have to be honest, if I hadn't done Prometheus, and it all started off when I went to do the re… you know, to understand about medical things, about travel, about would it be possible for us to be teleported, you know, all of that stuff. And, you know, you go and you meet these people who are teaching at Imperial College, and you're like... And then, you know, going, getting to listen to Professor Stephen Hawking talking c… 'cause imagine.

55:58Sonja KlausI mean, you know, and then when he says, "Don't look down at your feet, look up to the sky."

56:03Jawad MirYep.

56:03Sonja KlausYou think, okay. And then saying, "It's okay that you don't understand infinity. It's okay. It's okay, 'cause it's not possible for you as a human to understand it." And when someone like that says it to you kind of feel completely like, I feel okay then, that fact that something…

56:24Jawad MirYeah, peace

56:25Sonja Klaus... Goes on forever. I feel at peace. I feel fine that goes on forever, but it d… used to worry me. Oh, I used to be terribly worried about it. I'd be, like, so worried. Like, once you get past the black, so where does the box stop? And, you know, w… how does that, what's happening? Is he gonna move us? What's he doing?

56:43Jawad MirYeah. No, that's, that's... Yeah, it's, it's, it's a conversation that can never end because nobody knows, and we can just use…

56:49Sonja KlausNo

56:49Jawad Mir... Our imagination. But…

56:51Sonja KlausBut, you know, in 200 years, I mean, we won't be here, but, you know, in 100 years or wherever it is, I'm sure it'll be very, you know, it's gonna be very different, isn't it? The world, if it's still here.

57:05Jawad MirIf it's still here.

57:05Sonja KlausIt's, you know, it's gonna be different.

57:07Jawad MirYeah. Yeah, no…

57:08Sonja KlausBut we won't, we won't know. It's not gonna be in our time, you know. You know, that we might see something maybe when we're my mother's age at 90. You know, we might see something. But, you know, like, she's, imagine all the things they've seen. Imagine their acceptance. You know, if you ask a 90-year-old, "What do you think about aliens?" You know, could be quite a different answer.

57:31Jawad MirYeah, 100%. 100%. Well, this has been great. Thank you so much.

57:37Sonja KlausOh, it's very nice to see you again.

57:39Jawad MirLikewise.

57:39Sonja KlausYou must go and see Emilia Pérez. Have you seen it?

57:43Jawad MirNo, I wanted to see it at TIFF. I went to TIFF to see a lot of films, and I just d… didn't get, my timings didn't work out, but I'll check it out for sure.

57:49Sonja KlausYou need to go and see it, and then email me when you've been to see it.

57:54Jawad MirI will. How's, how are your projects coming along?

57:58Sonja KlausSo I'm in the house now that, for, you know I'm doing And Sons, the, I think... Did I tell you I was doing that Bill Nighy? Have I spoken... Oh, I haven't spoken to you, of course.

58:07Jawad MirYes.

58:08Sonja KlausSo obviously didn't work for two years, I think I told you that.

58:12Jawad MirYes.

58:12Sonja KlausFor the strike. So this film that I'm on now is being directed by Pablo Trapero. He's Argentinian, but now lives in Barcelona. And ... It's called And Sons. Sarah Polley wrote the script. She wrote Women Talking.

58:28Jawad MirOkay.

58:28Sonja KlausAnd it's Bill Nighy…

58:29Jawad MirOkay

58:29Sonja Klaus... And Noah Jupe, with George MacKay, Imelda Staunton, and who else is in it? And a couple of other people are in it. It's a, it's present day. It's about a guy, sort of a writer, Bill Nighy. He's kind of the level of Stephen King, and he's very famous, but he, you know, kind of locked himself away in his house for 22 years, and something happens that makes him get out of the house. And it's a kind of black, I call it a sort of black comedy drama, is how I describe it.

59:00Sonja KlausAnd the, where I am now, I'm just sitting in the room we're not using, hence all the stuff you see behind me. And so we're just getting the house ready. It's a, I'm in a Georgian mansion as his house, so we're just painting and doing it. We start filming on the 18th of November and finish just before Christmas.

59:19Jawad MirFantastic. Well, that sounds exciting.

59:20Sonja KlausThough I'm kind of glad to be working. It's tiny budget. Oh, my God. Oh, it's so low budget. I've been painting. I've got my, I've got my, shoe covers on 'cause I've been painting one of the rooms. 'Cause, we haven't got enough, we've only got two painters, and so everyone's had to muck in. It's one of those jobs.

59:39Jawad MirWell, regardless of that, I mean, I know obviously having a good budget, I think it, we all struggle with that. It's, it's always nice. But sometimes, again, that because you've chosen to do the job, obviously you believe in it, and you want it to…

59:53Sonja KlausYes. I mean, I will admit to you, I do, I love the director. Everyone is lovely. We all just sat and had lunch together on the big kitchen table and, you know, and everyone is li… is very nice. You know, there's absolutely no money, and I mean that. I'm going into sets with zero written against them, 22 sets with no money to dress them. I have to just literally, it's like a documentary, it's a walk-in. And, you know, shift a few things around. But I don't know, I just, Pablo is just, you know, he's ch… he's charming. And everyone's really nice, and I haven't been working, you know, and I'm just so grateful to be out.

1:00:34Sonja KlausYou know, and to be able to…

1:00:35Jawad MirGood

1:00:35Sonja Klaus... Sort of, you know, even though I'm just painting a wall yellow right now, I'm, I'm kind of like, I kind of don't mind. You know, 'cause I'd rather be painting that wall yellow than sitting at home going, "Nobody loves me and thinks I'm shit."

1:00:47Jawad MirBut, you know, at the end of the day, it's about when you are in your zone and doing what you love, you dis… rediscover and rediscover and rediscover yourself.

1:00:57Sonja KlausYes, that…

1:00:57Jawad MirAnd that's the best feeling in the world.

1:00:59Sonja KlausThat, you're right about that. You are.

1:01:02Jawad MirWonderful. Thank you so much again.

1:01:04Sonja KlausOh, well, I hope I'll…

1:01:04Jawad MirI wish you all the luck

1:01:05Sonja Klaus... Speak to you soon, and let me know what you think about Emilia Pérez.

1:01:08Jawad MirAnd you tell me how Gladiator II was without spoiling it.

1:01:11Sonja KlausYeah, I will. I'll, I'll, yeah, I'll tell you what it was like.

1:01:15Jawad MirWonderful. Looking forward to chatting again.

1:01:16Sonja KlausHave a lovely rest of the day.

1:01:17Jawad MirYou too. Take care. Bye-bye.

1:01:19Sonja KlausBye.